Budgie Behavioural Problem

by Alex
(London)

At the end of July, I took my bird to an avian vet for an annual health check, and I informed him that I recently lost another budgie who escaped, and he could see she was obviously depressed, but otherwise in good health.

He suggested that I get another budgie as a new companion, and after an initial "I am the boss" behaviour from the older hen, they get on fine.

The problem is, that the new one hates being handled. I can stroke her in the cage of an evening, but other times she will try to get away.

When I do handle her, she squarks and bites until I put her down, but stroking doesn't seem to stress her out, but she moves around the cage or room as not to be touched.

She seems tame enough to touch of an evening, but not any other time of the day, and handling at any time is a big no no.

Is there any way that I can stop her squawking and biing and enjoy being handled and not biting,

I want to tame her enough to handle. e.g. put back in the cage but taming techniques don't seem to work.

She is a lovey budgie and under 6 months of age, and I love her to bits.

Comments for Budgie Behavioural Problem

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Aug 27, 2012
 Thank you
by: Alex

Thank you Anonymous.
Aug 26, 2012
 Thank you
by: Anonymous

Thank you for the advice Linda.
Aug 26, 2012
 Budgie behavioural Problem
by: Anonymous

I bought a Budgie four years ago from a guy that said he'd found him in his yard; he was very wild. I've tried to hold and caress him from the day I brought him home but to no avail. Everytime I'd put my hand into his cage and ask him to step up he'd bite me until it bleed. I've never stopped trying though and after four years he now steps up as soon as I put my hand in his cage. I can only move my hand with him slowly from left to right inside his cage while singing a song for him. He seems to enjoy my singing but I still can't take him out of his cage. I've three birds but his cage and one of the other birds stays open 24 hours; they can come out and go back in whenever they like. My other bird bites everything in sight so I open his cage during the day when I'm around and can keep a close eye on him; which is regularly. I close his cage when he's ready to sleep because he gets up earlier than me and I wouldn't want to wake up in the morning and see all my flowers etc are being shred to pieces. My three birds love playing together and are very happy. They all can fly in our home and I've never clipped any of their wings. I'm not giving up on my little Budgie though, he'll be tamed very soon. Please do not give up on your Budgie, you'll have to do something like what I'm doing with my own and soon your Budgie will be tamed. He or she has to fully trust you and that will take some time but don't you give up; it's worth it. Good luck!
Aug 25, 2012
 Budgie Behavioural Problem
by: Linda

Glad to hear you have an Avian Vet, and the new bird needs to be examined right away. We recommend that new birds be examined for infections or other physical issues before coming home to keep from spreading any infectious disease. Birds coming from most pet shops are already incubating or sick with an infection from all the stress of being moved around and in the company of a lot of other birds.

So, first, take new bird to be examined if you have not already done it. After that, your bird needs to be tamed which is a process, and there is some information on this site about bird training. Do not begin any taming/training until bird has been examined by Avian Vet because sick birds or ones incubating infections cannot be exposed to the stress of taming/training.

Mostly, birds do not come to us tame. On rare occasions, when we buy a tame bird from a private owner, they will probably be tame, but will also probably bite because birds' trust is earned not freely given. When we acquire a new bird, they have to learn to trust us, and this takes time.

So, read some of the info found here, and once bird has clean bill of health from avian vet, you can begin taming her. Keep training sessions short, like no more than 10-15 minutes max, and do them a couple of times a day. The avian vet also needs to clip her wings, just the 4-6 primary flight feathers is more than enough, and these are the long feathers found at the ends of each wing. This will greatly aid in taming and training. A bird who can fly away from you does not need to work with you because they can always just fly away.

Keep us posted and best of everything to you and yours!

Linda

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